


Smile

by winterda



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Drabble, Episode Tag, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-07
Updated: 2015-10-07
Packaged: 2018-04-25 05:54:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4949143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/winterda/pseuds/winterda
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harleen watches TV.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Smile

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing. Fox and DC own all.

The TV is playing the video again. The one of the happy man in the police station. It's on all the time and on every channel that the old rabbit-eared TV can pick up. Her daddy is passed out in his chair, the one that the apartment's last occupants had left behind because it'd fall apart if you tried to move it. He's snoring and a beer can tilts dangerously in his hand. 

Mommy's cooking in the next room and yelling at her big brother and sisters, while the baby screams and screams. No one is around to push her out of the way, and Daddy won't care what she watches because he's not watching anything anyway. She hopes for cartoons.

She has to watch the funny man instead.

He screams and laughs and jokes. All the while he's covered in blood and people moan in pain all around him. He's so happy in their misery. She tilts her head, her blond pigtails falling to one side, and wonders why he does that.

Then he looks at the camera and begins to laugh. High and hysterical and breathy. It cuts through her like an icy wind and causes goosebumps to appear up and down her arms. It's wrong. It's crazy.

She can't help but to laugh, too. 

It must be a little too loud because her daddy jumps at the sound, and his beer spills in his lap. The funny man's laugh is drowned out by the string curses that fly from her daddy's mouth.

“Damn it, Harleen,” he snaps with that nasal accent that will always mark them as outsiders in Gotham. 

He smells more like beer than normal when grabs her by the upper arm and drags her feet. She yells a little because his strong grip hurts and knows that she'll have a fresh set of bruises in the morning. 

The happy man's laughter echos in her head even as her daddy pulls her out of the living, and all seven-year-old Harleen can do is smile.

**Author's Note:**

> I saw someone mention about a missed opportunity of having Harley be one of the people watching Jerome. I got to thinking about it, and this is what came about.


End file.
